Table(s): Peace
Rating: PG-13
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Red Alert/Inferno (and assorted other canon characters)
Summary: A collection of stories centering around various aspects of peace. Stories are not related to one another.
Disclaimer: As per usual, the good things in life are not mine to have, but belong to someone else... in this case Hasbro, Takara and IDW and anyone else I've forgotten…
Authors Notes: Written for the LJ community tformers100 Peace Table.
Forgiveness
It had been a small thing that started it off. Few (except Red Alert) could remember what had happened. And Inferno certainly couldn't. Which was proving to be problematic as he had no idea what he had done wrong, or why Red Alert was so upset with him. No amount of questions could shed any light on the problem. And he couldn't exactly review the security footage without Red Alert knowing and that would just make the situation worse.
Eventually Inferno made his decision. If he couldn't work out what he'd done wrong, he'd just apologise and hope that Red Alert wouldn't ask for a specific apology. And if he did, well Inferno might just have to distract him.
Silence
They said silence was deafening. And to Red Alert it was. Every sound seemed amplified in the quiet that was his quarters. It made him uncomfortable. Unable to recharge. It was slowly driving him insane. If a mech could go insane of course. Inferno was in his own quarters, a gesture because he had an early patrol the next morning and didn't want to disturb Red Alert.
Except now all Red Alert wanted was to be disturbed.
Quickly and quietly, he made his way out of his room (after locking and double locking the door) and down the corridor to Inferno's room. He paused briefly outside the room. He could hear Inferno's systems rumbling softly in recharge. Keying in the override, he slipped inside and climbed up in the berth next to the fire truck.
Finally, he relaxed; the sounds of Inferno's engine creating the silence he needed to cycle down into recharge. The last thing he remembered was Inferno draping an arm across him and muttering.
"Couldn't sleep?"
"Too quiet." He'd mumbled in reply.
Healing
"I'm fine!"
"No. You're not. And if I have to get Red Alert in here to make sure you stay in that berth, then by Primus I will!"
"You wouldn't!"
"Try me." Ratchet folded his arms and smiled smugly at Inferno. The fire truck groaned and lay back on the berth.
"Fine." Inferno offlined his optics, trying his best to ignore the itch of the welds criss-crossing his chassis.
"You need to stay as still as possible to let your systems heal. You took a lot of damage." Ratchet's tone was softer now. The medic rested one hand briefly on Inferno's shoulder before moving away to finish his paperwork.
"Inferno?" The tentative voice brought him back online, out of the light recharge he'd drifted in to.
"Red?"
"Inferno." The relief was evident in the Security Director's voice. At least momentarily. "Do you have any idea how reckless and stupid that was?"
"I think I got some idea…" Inferno struggled to sit up only to be stopped by Red Alert's hand on his chest plates.
"Ratchet said not to let you move." Inferno grumbled.
"I'm fine Red."
"No. You're not." He echoed Ratchet's earlier statement, tracing his fingers gently over the myriad of welds and patches now adorning his lover.
"Saved 'em though."
"Yes, yes you did." There was nothing Red Alert could do but agree with him. No matter what the risks, Inferno would still charge headlong into anything to help someone. Always eager for action. Which always left Red Alert sitting in med bay next to Inferno, waiting for the fire truck to heal.
So he could go out and be reckless again.
Rebirth
"Red?" Inferno stood in the middle of their quarters, staring down at the Lamborgini who was currently sat on the floor in what looked to be an incredibly servo-stretching and uncomfortable position. And he wasn't responding to Inferno's repeated attempts to get his attention.
"Red!" Since that whole thing with Starscream, Red Alert had withdrawn slightly, more content to stay in his office than mingle. It didn't help when you had Minibots like Cliffjumper mouthing off all the time. Not that he did that anywhere near Inferno anymore of course. Red Alert had spent his free time reading data files. Inferno was assured time and time again that they had nothing to do with work, for which he was grateful.
Over the few weeks since the incident with the Negavator, Inferno had begun noticing slight changes in Red Alert. They probably weren't noticeable to anyone but him. The difference in the way he reacted to things. The extra klik it took him to process things more calmly.
And of course the whole sitting on the floor looking like he was recharging.
"Red?" He tried yet again, optics flickering in surprise when the Security Director answered tiredly.
"What?"
"You okay?" Red Alert onlined his optics and stared up at Inferno. The serene smile on his face as he answered would have not looked out of place on Beachcomber.
"Not yet, but I will be." Quiet conviction colored his tone and he held out his hand to Inferno, allowing the fire truck to pull him up off the floor and into an embrace.
Wholeness
It didn't matter that Red Alert was physically fine (aside from the odd burn mark) Inferno simply didn't want to let him go. The feeling of the Lamborghini in his arms awoke feelings he thought he'd buried long ago.
"Inferno?"
"Sorry Red…" At Red Alert's voice, he jerked himself abruptly out of his thoughts. "Just glad I got there in time."
"Me too." 'Love you Red' was what Inferno wanted to say, but he couldn't bring himself to say the words. Whether it was fear of rejection or just not wanting to upset the balance of their friendship he wasn't sure. All he knew was that Red Alert was whole and safe and that was enough for him.
For the time being.
Contentment
There was simply nothing better, Red Alert decided. Well, perhaps the war ending and the destruction stopping and Cybertron being rebuilt. But at the moment, there was nothing more he wanted.
Lying curled up against Inferno, listening to the larger mech's engine rumbling in recharge. Surprisingly, the security of the base didn't matter. All that mattered was the sound of Inferno's engine soothing him towards recharge, the feeling of safety and security he got from being near the fire truck. Contentment was the word that came to the front of his processor just as his systems cycled down into recharge.
Contentment. Content. He was content. Inferno made him feel contented.
Life
He couldn't understand how the security was so lax. Immediately upon his arrival, he'd thrown himself into reorganising the security grid. Or rather, establishing it. There was only a basic one in use and Wheeljack had set it up so Primus only knew how reliable it was.
"You have to understand Prowl, this security risk cannot continue!"
"I agree Red Alert, but up til now we have not had the resources to do it."
"Besides, we've quite enjoyed not havin' to worry about it!"
"Jazz! You are not helping."
"Hey, we finally get a chance to have a somewhat normal life and he comes down an' starts complaining."
"We don't have any where near a 'normal' life Jazz."
"How can you have a normal life if you're not at all concerned about security? The Decepticons could easily sneak in here and deactivate you all!"
"Yeah but they ain't."
"Haven't. And Red Alert is correct. The security grid must be upgraded and we must try and remember that as easy as life is on earth, we are still in the middle of a war."
"Thank you Prowl."
Dove
"It doesn't make sense."
"Now ya see I thought it would be Prowl nearly crashin' his logic center over this."
"I am not crashing my logic center Inferno!"
"Heh, course not Red."
"I just fail to see why something so small and often considered vermin can be such a symbolic figure."
"Now that I can't answer Red. Just somethin' that has ta be accepted. Kinda like us and Primus. The whole First Transformer thing yanno?"
"…"
"Red?"
"I'm just thinking Inferno."
"'Kay…"
"And the humans view this bird as sacred, despite other members of its genus being regarded as pests?"
"Some of 'em do Red."
"Fascinating."
"Jazz said it all started with this story in a book called the Bible."
Compromise
"Can you not at least try?"
"But the security…"
"But nothin' Red. Ya focus too much on yer work!"
"But I…"
"Someone else can look after the monitors Red. I'm draggin' yer aft outta here. Ratchet says yer gotta get refuelled and get some recharge 'fore he'll put ya back on the active duty list."
"He's taken me off duty?"
"Yup." The almost-smug tone in Inferno's voice made Red Alert pause and stare up at the larger mech.
"You had a hand in this, didn't you?"
"Nope. Just likin' it, that's all. Means I get ta spend time with you."
"But I have work that…" He trailed off as Inferno held up a hand.
"Tell ya what Red. Compromise with me. You can take a couple o' datapads ta work on and we go back to our quarters and relax on the berth with a cube or two?"
"I get to work?"
"As long as I get ta hold ya, yeah." Red Alert smiled up at Inferno, happy to be able to take his work 'home' with him. Even if they both knew he wouldn't get much done.
Hope
"Inferno?"
"Yeah Red?"
"What are you doing? You should be heading out on patrol."
"I know." Reluctantly, Inferno turned away from the window, away from the scenes of burning debris and rubble.
"Are you all right Inferno?" In the days that had followed the departure of the Ark and the subsequent lack of communication and the knowledge that Megatron himself had left Cybertron, the remaining Autobots had begun to lose hope. Even Inferno had withdrawn into himself.
"I'm fine Red… just… yanno, hoping they're still out there. Mebbe if we can get into Shockwave's computers we can find out what happened…"
"I know Inferno. And we'll do our best. We just need a little more time."
"Yeah, I guess…" Inferno ambled off, leaving Red Alert standing by the window, wondering how exactly he could bolster the hope of the remaining Autobots.